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Columbus rents rising

By: Jim Weiker

The Columbus Dispatch - April 11, 2012 12:36 PM

Two new reports add numbers to what most central Ohio renters already know: Rents are rising and
rentals are getting harder to find.

Columbus-area rents have risen nearly 13 percent over the last year, according to the
real-estate information and listing firm Zillow. The average central Ohio rent is $984 a month,
though it rises to more than $1,500 a month in some areas such as German Village and parts of
Dublin and Worthington.

A separate report, by the commercial real-estate firm Marcus Millichap, finds that the Columbus
rental market has tightened more in the last year than in all but eight other U.S. cities. The
report concludes that about 7 percent of Columbus apartments are empty, down from nearly 9 percent
a year ago.

That 7 percent figure, however, masks enormous differences in the central Ohio rental landscape.
High-end apartments in some areas such as Downtown, the Short North and around the north outerbelt
are in tremendous demand while older, "Class C," apartments in less affluent areas are more easily
found.